Sunday in Uis

Yesterday I got up early (well early for a Sunday… around 7:30) and went with Peter, his friend MJ (who you will hear more about soon…), one of my learners named Diana and her two little sisters to the “white sand mountain.” A little background so that it makes sense: my town was founded here in the middle of nowhere because of a tin mine, which is no longer operating. Tin is found here on stones that are white speckled with a sparkling black (the tin) in a pattern that reminds me of mini shiny soccer balls. To get the tin then, there is a lot of white stone ground up and discarded. This white stone has formed a hill larger than any of the nearby natural hills and it lies about 3km away from where I live. So away we went, and we climbed (it was quite a hike) up the little mountain and were greeted at the top by breathtaking views.
To one side you could see the location and beyond that the lonely dirt road disappearing beyond the horizon between two lonely mountains. In the other direction was the town which is framed by Brandberg mountain, the highest peak in Namibia. Behind us was the abandoned mine with all sorts of weirdly shaped buildings. It was gorgeous.
Unfortunately, I was the only one who brought water, and I did not plan on supplying the whole party, so we straggled back to the house mostly out of thirst. (I don’t think I’ve ever thought that much about water before in my whole life!) Afterwards, I spent most of the afternoon at the school working on writing exams and getting paperwork together for the end of the term, and came home to watch Last of the Mohicans with MJ.
So my entire weekend (not exaggerating, they came and sat at the school while I worked) was spent with Peter, MJ, and Diana. Peter and Diana met Friday night and have been hopelessly and shamelessly smitten ever since. It got old very fast to be followed so constantly by middle school flirting. This left MJ and I some good bonding time, and fortunately he is an articulate and fun kid. Nonetheless, I am not too sorry that I FINALLY have a little alone time tonight!